1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a holiday ornament for hanging on an object, for example, a Christmas tree and, more particularly, to an action ornament having a mobile decorative part orbited around a stationary decorative part to create an animated visual effect.
2. Description of Related Art
A Christmas tree ornament having an internal DC motor powered by external batteries and operative for moving movable decorative parts relative to stationary decorative parts is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,923,721. U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,120 discloses another Christmas tree ornament having an internal motor for moving a movable part including a lamp, the motor being powered through a connector plugged into an electrical lamp socket of a light string set. U.S. Pat. No. 4,980,608 discloses a miniature electrical motor specifically adapted to be plugged into a lamp socket of a light string set and operative to rotate Christmas tree ornaments. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,146,919 and 4,214,296 are exemplificative of rotating hanging lamps with internal motors.
The known use of an external motor to rotate an entire holiday ornament has not proven altogether satisfactory in practice because the ornament can become detached from the motor, and fall to the ground and shatter. This detachment problem can be prevented by using an internal motor. However, this increases the overall size of the ornament and renders it too bulky and too heavy for some decorative applications.